Huntington City appoints new councilperson

Huntington City swears in Gloria Wilson as council person to take the vacant seat left when Travis Larsen relocated for employment.

By GARY ARRINGTONStaff Writer

Six Huntington City residents applied to the Huntington City Council to replace Travis Larsen on the city council. Larsen was recently transferred by his employer, Rocky Mountain Power, to the Salt Lake City area and submitted his resignation effective the end of September. The Council, individually and collectively thanked Travis for his service to the city. Larsen was instrumental in the completion of the new fire station.

Former councilpersons Cathy Cowley and Bob Mills, Huntington fire fighter Warren Oviatt, Huntington animal control officer Cardell Sackett, Huntington Cert leader Gloria Wilson and Kallon Cowley all submitted applications in a timely manner. All but Kallon Cowley went to the September City Council meeting and responded one at a time to questions from the council. Each had an opportunity to speak also if so desired.

After each applicant had their opportunity to speak, the current council voted for the replacement. Gloria Wilson was elected by the council to serve until January 2014. The position will be on the ballot in November 2013. The replacement was done according to Utah Code 20A-1-510.

In other business, local resident Jeff Guymon purchased two old water tanks from the city by way of a bidding process on Ebay. The city had listed the tanks prior for sale but had to rescind all prior action when two conflicting bid processes were put into play.

The Council approved the business licenses for two businesses in the city. Bella Lamore and The Workout Place were approved to open in the city.

Huntington City also decided to start doing their own building permits and inspections. After being tied in with the county for a number of years, the Council decided to return to the days of hiring their own inspector and doing the work themselves. The county is currently contracting with Sunrise Engineering out of Utah County for inspections. The city hired Emery County resident Trenton Bennett to fill the position.

The Mayor, Hilary Gordon, brought up the issue of river clean-up following the recent fire up the canyon and subsequent massive rain storms that have devastated the canyon even more. The bridge over the river on 400 East needs to be cleaned along with the bridge by the rodeo grounds. Those are the responsibility of the city while the one on the highway coming into town is the responsibility of UDOT. Up the canyon is a massive dam of trees that is approximately six feet deep and nine hundred feet long that is a major concern to not only the city but to the county as well.